November 7, 2007

This question is for Steverino and any other casino apologists who side with the Sandia Resort and Casino over their refusal to honor a jackpot that apparently resulted from a malfunction, and which in any event registered winnings in a much higher amount than the machine was supposed to have been capable of. Suppose I walk into the same casino, wearing a pin on my shirt reading “Maximum loss $500. If I screw up, it doesn’t count.” Assume that pin was in plain view of all dealers, printed in exactly the same font and size as the slot machine warnings no one ever reads. I sit down at a card table, giving the dealer every opportunity to tell me to take a flying leap, but he ignores the pin and deals me a hand instead. I place $10,000 on the table, am a royal flush, get the stupids, and discard a few cards. As a result of my own stupidity, I end up losing a hand I should have easily won. How much should the casino collect from me?

$10,000. That’s how much I placed on the table. Duh!

$500. I told the guy that was all I could lose, so how does he get off expecting to collect more? Duh!

One side argues that waterboarding is torture, therefore, we must ban it. The other side argues that waterboarding is definitely not torture, because we need it.

To both sides of the debate: would it kill you to consider the possibility that waterboarding is torture, but we need it anyway? We shouldn’t be debating whether Khalid Sheik Mohammed was or wasn’t tortured. Instead, let’s debate whether it was better that (1) Khalid Sheik Mohammed be tortured or (2) Library Tower go the way of the World Trade Center. Those are the choices.

If this is to be believed, it seems Duane “Dog” Chapman used the N-word because he thought he was black himself. Either that, or he heard so many black rappers and fellow inmates say the N-word that he thought they must be cool with it. Oops.